Young and Alive
by queenofice87
Summary: Krystal is a young girl who is living her life in the zombie apolcalypse the best she can. When Rick and Lori adopt her, she meets their son Carl. A relationship forms as they grow up and take on the challenges the world throws at them. Will change to M in future chapters.
1. Days Are Gone

When this had all started, she was on her own, her only weapons being a stainless steel machete and an ax. She might've been eight years old, but she definitely wasn't stupid. She was actually quiet intelligent for her age, intelligent enough to use a weapon.

She hadn't had much people contact, and the ones that she did have contact with were all the dead ones.

Feeling hungry, she stopped by a drug store hoping to find a snack, or one of those lunchables she loved to eat before it spoils rotten like everything else in the world.

Grabbing her hello kitty backpack (decorated with bright purple daisies and sunflowers), she stuffed all she could into it, along with the last remaining bottles of cold water.

That was the only thing she carried in her backpack, that, and a pack of children's underwear that her parents had for her when they fled their home.

Tears stung at her eyes as memories from the day before struck her mind. It was still fresh, and hurt so bad that it ached, but she remembered the promise that she made to her mother and father, the promise to live no matter how much it hurts, no matter how lonely she feels, to be a strong person and continue on. To hang onto hope even if there seems like there isn't any. She also made the promise to always believe in god no matter what happens.

As the promises were made, her mother handed her the bible, which she slowly took as the decaying hands of the dead people kept grabbing at her mother and father. They were using themselves as bait, putting items in her backpack that she would need to survive, and giving her the weapons that she also needed.

The family of three were living in a hotel room at the start of the apocalypse and were on their way out the door to escape, but the hotel was already over run by a super herd of dead people. Originally, they were in downtown Atlanta for a summer vacation that never happened.

Her parents shoved her out the door, moving the furniture in the hotel lobby in front of it to keep the zombies from being able to go out. They were rotating doors, which would make it harder for them to freely go through whenever they pleased, but easier for Krystal to make her escape.

With one last look, she turned her head as the monsters bit into her mother and father's heads or necks, she ran before their blood curdling screams even filled the air. She ran until she couldn't run anymore, and climbed up the nearest ladder for the roof top. Her father had said that the dead were too stupid to look up at anything that weren't stairs and didn't make noise.

* * *

><p>She remembered the safety lessons well.<p>

She wanted to remember anything that her parents taught her to keep them fresh alive in her heart. That way, her mom and dad weren't really gone. She closed her eyes as the tears streamed down her face.

Climbing up the last ladder, she almost slipped and fell down to the group of walkers that gathered below her, but somebody grabbed her hand and yanked her up. It was a bit forceful.

"Ow!" She whimpered, rubbing her wrist.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that! Are you alright?" The man bent down to help her up, being more gentle this time.

She stared at him at first, before handing her hand to him. She didn't respond right away, and settled for poking at the ground with her feet instead.

The man studied her for a bit, removing the binoculars slowly from his eyes. He previously was going to speak into the device that was in his hands until he got bumped into by the little girl, who couldn't have been no older than eight years old, her height reached to about the hips or lower. She was a cute little thing even with blood smeared all over her clothes and face, some looked like it was even in her hair.

He sighed when she didn't respond and went to speak into the walkie-talkie instead, "Hey, you. Dumbass in the truck."

The girl jumped a little, not expecting that kind of talking from him. He continued as he looked at her out the corner of his eyes, "Are you comfy in there?"

"Hello?"

"Hello? Are you there?"

"Yeah,"

"You had me wondering," The voice on the other end of the talkie said, followed by angry static.

"I have eyes out here,"

"How many?"

"Dude, you're surrounded. If you were on this side and saw it for yourself, you'd be having a major freak out."

"Is there an escape route?"

"Yeah, you have an opening on your left. I'd make a run for it if I were you."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"It's not as stupid as it sounds. If you move now, you still have a chance. With me so far?"

"So far. What about my guns?"

"Guns?"

"Yeah, I had a bag full of ammo and I dropped them on the way over here."

"Forget them, they're not important. What's important is that you get the hell outta there. Like, sometime today, preferably."

"Alright,"

"What do you have on you?"

"A berretta with one clip. 15 rounds. "

"There's an ally down the street, 50 yards. Be there. I'm on my way right now."

Krystal and the asian guy (Korean? Chinese? She wasn't sure) looked over the edge of the roof, watching as the other man that he was talking to pulled the top of the tank aside. He slipped out, and as soon as he did so the herd noticed him immediately, even though majority of them had been distracted by the fallen horse, the other half of the herd's attention was brought back to the police officer as he dashed across the street, shooting at them as he sprinted down toward the buildings.

Krystal's heart pounded in her chest as the officer continued sprinting, she was worried about him getting swarmed because of the amount of noise the gun was making.

Together, Krystal and the guy who helped her earlier made their way to the location, both of them pulling down the ladder. When the officer finally made it to them, he made his way up quickly. Now over the roof, the trio rolled the rest of the ladder up into the walk way. The metal clicked with a loud "ding".

"Are you the new sheriff that came in to clean up the town?" Glenn asked, tilting an eyebrow.

The "sheriff" tilted his hat, "Not my intention."

"Yeah whatever," Said Glenn with a roll of his eyes. "Yee haw."

"Dumbass." The officer placed his hands on his hips, giving a light bounce on his feet.

Krystal giggled, "Nice to meet you both. My name's Krystal."

"Rick."

"Glenn."

Glenn looked over the roof edge again, grimacing at the sight below. "Oh man. If we're lucky, it's gonna be the fall that kills us."

Rick and Krystal stared at him like he grew a thousand alien heads, causing Glenn to smirk. "What? I'm a glass half full kinda guy!"

The growling and moaning from the walkers grew louder and louder below them.

Rick raised his volume, "did you put up those barricades?"

"No," Glenn sighed, licking the dryness out of his lips, "I guess somebody did when the city got over run."

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for me?" Rick asked.

Glenn smiled, "Same reason why I helped this little girl. Call it naive hope if you want, but if it were me, I'd be wanting somebody to help me outta that hell hole."

"Thanks." Rick followed Glenn and Krystal toward the door that led to the back of the department store's storage room.

"No problem," Glenn held the door for them, the door slamming in after them with a strained shriek.

* * *

><p>AN: I know this has been done before, but I don't really care. This is MY version of what's been done. I'm tired of running into these types of stories and the author never finishes it and leaves you hanging. You guys won't have to worry about that with this fanfic. I love to write, and reviews motivate me. They give me hope that people enjoy reading what I write, and it helps to get feedback as well through the reviews. Let me know what you think in the comments, and if I should keep things unique from the show or leave it as it is!


	2. What Goes Down, Stays Down

The trio were able to make it inside, where an African woman, an African-american male, a Spanish male, and your typical blue-eyed-blonde-haired-Caucasian was waiting for their return. Krystal stopped, hiding behind Rick's pants leg when she saw the herd of walkers pounding on the door. Their faces looked like the same ones that ripped her parents apart back at the hotel. She swallowed, tiny fingers holding onto Rick's pants leg.

Rick backed up, "Put the gun down."

"I outta kill you assholes right where you stand!" The blonde woman seethed, her whole body was shaking with rage.

"C'mon, ease up!" The African woman pleaded, trying to pull the blonde's arm down. She shoved the other woman's hand off her wrist, then shoved her off herself.

"Ease up?!" She exclaimed loudly, obliviously frustrated. "Are you kidding me?! These fools got us all dead! We're all dead cus of you!"

"I don't understand," Rick blinked, pulling the little girl behind him.

"I do" Krystal muttered, only to be hushed by him.

"We came into the city for scavenging supplies," The Spanish male huffed, rubbing at his temples. "Do you know what the key to survival is? Sneaking in, and Sneaking out, tip-toeing and being silent, not popping out rounds for every last damn geek in the city to hear!"

"You just rang the dinner bell," The African woman said slowly.

"Get the picture now?" The blonde sneered, clicking the gun again, pulling back the trigger. "The world ended a few days ago or did you not get the memo when you dragged your asses over here?"

Rick didn't know what to say to that. He actually did just wake up in the hospital a few days ago, unsure of what went down. The world around him reeked of death, a stench that he would never be able to forget again in the rest of his days. It didn't help that the stench followed him and anyone else that was living everywhere they went.

He lowered his hands, "So you mean to tell me that you're just going to kill all three of us, including this scared lil' girl here? You're not giving a good impression to her, or anyone else in this room."

"You shut up!" The woman grouched.

"Alright, " Rick looked down at the ground, he spat on it. "Fine. Pull the trigger, kills us all just cus you feel like it, then wonder why the rest of them bastards out there get excited from that and break down the glass they're leaning on."

The woman lowered her gun at that, deflated. She sighed, "I hate you so much right now."

"I know, but you'll thank me later," Rick replied.

"Thank you, Andrea," The African woman patted her on the shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze.

"Meh," The woman called Andrea huffed.

"Whose the kid wit ya'll, officer friendly?" The Spanish man asked.

"Krystal," Rick introduced for her. He could tell that she was too meekish and shy to say anything around them, and he didn't blame her after the stunt Andrea just pulled with that gun. He had a feeling that it was going to be a while before she warmed up to them. "Mine's Rick. Glenn there saved us up there on the roof top,"

"I'm Moralas," The Spanish man turned to everyone in the room as he said their names, "That there is T-Dog, Andrea, and Jaqui."

T-dog mockingly saluted them, while Andrea scoffed and rolled her eyes. Jaqui smiled, giving a small wave. Krystal waved back with a quiet and squeaky "hi".

"Mind telling' us why you were shootin' your rounds like that?" Morelas asked, hands on his hips.

"I saw a helicopter a while ago," Rick replied. "I was tryin' to get it's attention,"

"A helicopter?! Pfft," T-dog snorted, throwing his hands at him, "Man, please, you were hallucinating,"

"I saw it too," Krystal said.

"So did I," Glenn said. "I already told him it was a bad idea, he didn't listen 'cus he's a dumbass."

Rick rolled his eyes. "There's a more important matter at hand here," He eyed the walkers pounding at the glass door behind them, there snarling and monstrous barks getting louder and louder. The glass was starting to shatter. Krystal must've noticed, because she pulled back even further, her hands gripping onto the weapons attached to her belt. Sweat rolled down her forehead and cheeks, adrenaline pumping through her blood.

"We need to get out of here," Rick continued. "Now!" He motioned for everyone to follow him into the back of the department store's ware house, Krystal and the others following closely behind him.

* * *

><p>"Maybe we can contact the others," Jaqui mentioned, the last one entering the room as the door closed shut behind her.<p>

"Others?" Krystal asked, looking up at Jaqui expectantly.

"Are there refugee camps out there?" Rick questioned, "More survivors?"

"Yeah," Jaqui rolled her eyes, sarcasm laced in her every movement and wording. She folded her arms, "They got biscuits and coffee waitin' in the oven for us."

In the back of the ware house, T-dog fiddled around with the radio, desperately trying to get a signal. His eyes were full of nerve-wrecking emotion. He cursed when he realized he wasn't going to get a connection, tossing the radio down before him. "Nutin'. Maybe the roof top will give us a better clearing."

Rick picked up the small radio, shoving it into his pocket as Glenn handed him the walkie talkie. The only thing emitting from both of them was headache-bearing static.

Jaqui was about to open her mouth when bullets were heard firing above them. She stopped, slapping her palm into her forehead.

"Oh no, is that Dixon?" Andrea groaned.

"What is that idiot doing up there?!"

"C'mon, let's go," Glenn said, ushering everybody up the stairs to the roof top.

* * *

><p>On the top of the roof, the man called Dixon was shooting randomly at the walkers below. He whooped loudly, apparently killing some of them. Krystal glared at him, disgusted immediately by his whole being. She could tell that he was nothing but trash based on his behavior. The drool off the sides of his mouth didn't do him any justice, either.<p>

"Hey man, are you crazy?!" T-dog yelled. Krystal was wondering the same thing.

"Oh jeez," Andrea rolled her eyes, and Jaqui was about to head towards him, but Rick stopped her as Moralas held a hand out in front of them.

"Ya'll need to be polite wit' a man wit' a gun!" Merle grouched proudly.

"As if you know anything about manners," Krystal grumbled.

"You," Merle pointed the rifle at her. "If yous was any prettier, I'd fuck ya up good, bitch. You'd enjoy it so much, ya'd hav' nothing' else 'a say after that!"

"You're wastin' bullets that we don't got!" T-dog growled at him, "put that shit down, man!"

"The day I take orders from a nigga is the day the world ends," Merle taunted. "Oh wait, it did! Opps!" He shot at one more walker beneath them.

"Wat you just say to me?!"

T-dog saw red, and threw Merle down to the floor. The gun flipped out of his hands and skidded across the floor near the edge of the roof top. Merle flipped ontop of T-dog, Krystal yelped as she watched, Jaqui shielding her from the violence, covering her eyes so she didn't have to see the two of them beat each other down into bloody pulps. Jaqui figured that the poor girl saw enough as it was already when Rick found her, she didn't need to see humans getting this way on her as well. Krystal burried her face into Jaqui's waist.

"Stop it!" Andrea yelled.

Merle ignored her, stomping around like he owned the place, "We gonna have ourselves a little pow-wow here! I say we take a vote and talk about whose in charge! I vote me! Oh c'mon, whose in favor?! Let's see a show of hands!"

Everybody was silent, waiting for what was going to happen next. After the violent act, Jaqui had released Krystal from her protective hold. She slowly raised up her hand, giving Merle a big fuck you.

"Alright," Merle nodded, pleased with himself. "Anybody else!?"

Rick marched forward, pulling Merle back after he struck him with a pipe. So he wouldn't be able to escape and fight back, he held him down with a head-lock. T-dog managed to crawl away with a bloodied nose and a swollen muscle under his eye. He spat blood onto the ground, wiping the rest of it off his cheek.

Are you fucking kidding me?" Merle gasped under the hold. "What're ya gonna do, officer? Arrest me?!"

Rick didn't say anything during the whole scenario, he was just too pissed off to even think of a good come back against him. He wiped out some hand cuffs, hooking Merle onto the pipe line on the roof. He shoved Merles face into the pipes so hard that he had blood pouring down his face. He gripped the back of Merles head and yanked him back, speaking threateningly into his ear. "That's exactly what I just did. You're going to sit up here and rot like the pig you are. And if you ever, EVER lay your hands on a little girl or anyone else I know again, and we cross paths, you can expect to not see another day. Are we clear on that?"

"Man, fuck you!" Merle snarled, "You ain't got nothing' on me!"

For good measure, Rick kicked him in the back of his head with the heal of his boots. It was enough to cause Merle to see stars and daze him. He didn't say anything else after that. He scrapped his heals onto the ground as if he was cleaning up dirt off his boots. Himself and the rest of the group, ignoring what went down earlier, went back into the basement to figure out a plan on escaping the city alive.

* * *

><p>The group head down even further into the basement, all lined up against the sides of the sewers.<p>

"This is it?" Morales asked.

"Yep," Glenn replied. "I'm goin in."

"We're right behind you," Andrea stood next to him, ready to jump into the line of fire. Glenn held her back, pushing her gently away from him.

"it's best I do this on my own," He said.

"Why?" Andrea furrowed her eyebrows in disappointment.

"I know this city like the front and back of my hand," Glenn pinched the middle of his nose, rubbing it with his fingers after a short pause. "I scooped this place out the last few times I was out here. If I bring you guys and there's a herd of walkers down in the sewers, everybody's screwed. I see it happen in horror movies all the time; group goes in together, hardly any of 'em make it out alive. I'm quiet, quick and fast. I'll be outta there before anything notices I'm there,"

He sighed, "No offense guys, but trust me when I say on this that I know how these things go down."

"None taken," Rick said. The rest of them nodded their responses as well, except for Krystal, who was silently watching from behind.

"Alright," Glenn said nervously, voice almost a whisper, "I'm going in. The rest of you head back up."


	3. A Blood Bath

The group finally high-tailed it out of the city and made it into the camp that was set up in the mountains.

Krystal was silent so far the whole way there, and for some strange reason, was immediately attached to Rick during the whole "escape the city full of walkers by using blood and guts, only to get it all washed off by the rain and nearly killed by the zombie swarm" incident.

The group in the van figured it was because he showed a lot of protection due to him being a police officer.

She stumbled out of the vehicle, quickly followed by Andrea, Jaqui, T-Dog and Moreles. The only one not in the van was Glenn; he pulled up behind them with loud blaring music, angering those in the camp.

A man with a fishing hat on came out, yelling at Glenn to shut it off.

"I can't!" Glenn laughed , stepping out into the open. "I don't know how!"

Rick ran towards his wife lori, and his son Carl. He picked her up slightly with a peck on the cheeks as Carl tackled into his sides, crying tears of joy.

"At least somebody's having a good day," Hummed Andrea standing beside another police guy. She had just finished telling him, and everybody else at the camp about what happened in the city. "nobody's gonna be pissed about Merle not being back 'cept Daryl."

"Daryl?" Rick's friend, Shane, asked.

"Merle's brother."

There was rattling in the background, three kids arguing over a toy:

"Give it back!"

"No!"

"I found it first! Give it back!"

"No!"

"Mom! She won't give me back the toy!"

"Both of you shut up," The mother barked at them, taking the toy out from their reach and holding them apart from each other by the scruff of their shirts, "You're loud enough to wake the dead! And I'm not joking on that one, either. Pipe down, I don't wanna hear another word out of you two, under stand?"

"Yes' ma'amn.." Both of the kids answered, disheartened.

"Give the toy back, Maria." The mother sighed, "You can play with it when he's done."

Meanwhile, another young boy tried to readjust himself on the stone rock his mother sat himself on. Of all things in the word to sit on, a rock was the best thing she could find? And on top of that, making him sit on it for almost all afternoon in the blaring sunlight? He knew he shouldn't be complaining too much, but it was taking his mother too long to finish the rest of his hair cut. There was also the fact that it was hot (he did mention that already, right?)

Krystal approached the group of kids, smiling as she sat down. She was a little quiet, and didn't join in their conversations. She poked at the ground with a stick as the kids beside her played tag near the campfire log.

He eyed her carefully, trying to get a good look at her. His mother yanked his head back, "ow! Hey! That hurt!"

"If you keep moving, it'll take longer, baby," His mother said softly, brushing more strands of chocolate hair down.

"Hurry up already," Her son scoffed, "I hate this!"

"If you think that's bad," One of the guys standing near the pond chuckled, "Just wait until you start shaving, then come back to your mother and start complaining. Shaving stings so bad that you' d be wishin' for one' o yer mother's hair cuts!"

"I'll believe it when I see it," The boy rolled his eyes.

"Tell ya what," The young man chuckled again, a bit louder, approaching him with his hands on his hips. "If you can get through the day with a lot more manly dignity than you're showin' right now, I'll show ya how to catch some frogs."

"I know how to catch frogs," The boy pouted.

"No, I'll teach you a technique," The man's chuckling turned into a wild laugh, "catching frogs is an art! Few people know about it, but I'm willing to share some secrets! "

"Really?" The boy piped up.

"I'm a girl here," Krystal chimed in, "So I guess I'm out of the deal , hunh?"

"Nah," The man waved her statement off, "n' body can join in! Ya sure you want to though? Most girls usually hate this sorta thing."

"Better than sitting around here doing nothing all day," Krystal nodded, standing up from the log to join Shane's side.

From afar, Rick watched Krystal interact with the group of campers, and he smiled. When he met her, she was very skeptical, very skiddish and shy of her surroundings. He heard her speak once, but she's very soft spoken. The fact that she was communicating with the group around her showed him that she wasn't afraid of socializing, she just doesn't say much when there isn't much needed to be said in the first place.

"I'm taking the kids out when your done, Lori," Shane said, giving her a wink. "What'cha think? That okay?"

"As long as you keep them away from the woods," Lori replied, pulling a final tug on Carl's hair, "I don't see why not."

"Ow!" Carl yipped, "Mom!"

The kids in the area laughed as his mother turned his head forcefully again, laughing harder as he started whining about the hair cut hurting.

* * *

><p>[show opening  intro]

* * *

><p>Down in the pond below the mountains, Lori watched as Shane, Carl and Krystal splattered around in the water. They were laughing as they played around. Lori shook her head at the gang as they fought in game of catching frogs, only to come out of it each and every time empty handed. She turned, heading back to camp, buckets of fresh water and clothing pins in her hands.<p>

The group of frog catchers stopped to catch for breath, collapsing onto the sandy banks.

"Looks like the winner's Krystal," Shouted Amy, Andrea's sister, from her spot against the laundry area the women of camp set up.

"Here," Krystal was going to hand Carl her frog that she managed to get, "Want it?"

"No way," Carl shook his head, "You caught it, you should keep it."

Krystal shrugged. "If you're sure."

By the time Shane, Krystal and Carl finished collecting the nets and empty buckets, a obese man decided to show up, ruining the moment between the gang by the water with his asshole attitude. He called for the woman with curly hair, tapping the butt of his cigarette to get the dirt out.

"She doesn't have to go with you!" Andrea argued.

"And I don't hafta listen to you just because you're some little snot nosed bratty college know-it-all," The man huffed. "Carol, get over here. NOW!"

Carol stood, but was held back by Jaqui and Amy. The group of girls started arguing as the woman's husband grabbed her by the arm. From where the kids and Shane were sitting at, it was like watching a tug of war between victim, the group of women, and the victim's abusive husband.

Krystal and Carl watched in horror as the fight between the women and that brute of a man took place. They were going to high tail it back to camp, but Shane held his hand out in front of them to stop them. He told them to stay put and not to watch as he ran up towards the group.

The man shouted at him to back off; of course, Shane wasn't listening. He was beyond pissed. He grabbed the man and shoved him to the ground. Straddling himself on top of him, he proceeded to beat the asshole across the face several times. It was so bad that his face was barely recognizable by the time Shane stopped.

He yanked the guy by the collar when he was finished, "If I see you lay a hand on Carol or anybody else in the damn camp, I won't stop when I beat your face in, you hear me? I will not hesitate to KILL you if you endanger anybody in our group like this again!"

Carol ran towards her bruised and battered husband, crying loudly, sobbing about how sorry she was as she kneeled down beside him. Shane stood up, wiping the remaining sweat out of his forehead. He motioned for the kids to follow him back up to the camp. Nobody really understood why she wept for a man that abuses her. Krystal didn't get it either. It was a headache trying to figure it out!

As the old saying goes, to each their own.

* * *

><p>Night time fell, everything going good even after Rick left to bring back Darl's dick of a brother and to get the bag of guns that he dropped on the road.<p>

Lori didn't agree. In fact, she _hated_ the idea of him going back for a man who wouldn't do shit for them in the first place. She finally gave in when he told her why it was his duty to go back, Carl didn't want him to go at all, and Krystal didn't blame him. She had been out there before, and it was crazy to go back for a guy who didn't give a rat's butt about either of them. Krystal figured it was just due to the cop that was in him.

Morality and all that good stuff still existed even in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

Krystal kind of didn't understand why folks just called them "walkers" or "biters". They were zombies from every man's horror movie ("shawn of the dead", anyone?), plain as day, but this group seemed to either not know about that or just called them as they see them.

Krystal rolled her eyes as Dale, the man who introduced himself to her earlier that morning when she arrived at camp, began to explain why he always winded the watch every chance he got.

She was barely paying attention, nearly falling asleep as Amy announced that she was going to use the bathroom and go to bed.

"So you use the watch even though it's the end of the world?" Krystal asked, tilting an eyebrow at him.

Dale shook his head, "It's not the end, lass. It's the beginning of the change of the world. Think of it that way, eh? Then it wouldn't seem so depressing."

Everyone around the campfire nodded their heads. They would have continued with their laughing and camp fire songs, but it was interrupted when Amy came back out with a question about where are all the toilet paper, followed by a scream of painful horror and anguish. The group sitting around the camp fire immediately stood up, gathering closely together to keep the zombies from trying to bite or pull at them.

Thankfully around the same time, as if on que, Rick, Daryl, Glenn and T-dog arrived from their trip back into the city and began popping off rounds, blowing out zombie heads one by one.

The campers that weren't with the camp fire group scattered and screamed, all of them eaten alive (some painfully nibbled on). The whole camp was swarmed with zombies to the point where Krystal lost count of them all. She huddled against the RV next to Lori, Carol, Carl, Dale and Jim.

She tried not to look at their fallen comrade on the ground. She heard Andrea yelling and screaming for Amy. It was a heart wrenching, gutting sound that gave an sharp ache in the pit of your chest, a sound of anguish that she never wanted to hear again.

It took a while, but finally every last zombie was put down. There had to have been at least thirty of them. Krystal grimaced at the sight before her. The two kids that had been arguing the day before about the toy were eaten from the waist line down, guts and rotten blood splattered about across from where they lay.

Their mother was laying on top of them, ripped apart in the same manner. She lost her limbs. The family had unfortunately all been bitten in the head when the zombies started invading the camp from where they set up their tents. Krystal's heart clenched at more ripped apart bodies from even more campers that she met from the other day. Krystal couldn't take anymore. She shoved Carl and his mother out the way, and ran to hide inside the RV with a sob for her fallen campers.

The whole thing reminded her of when her parent's sacrificed themselves for her so that she could escape the zombie swarm in the hotel they were staying at. It was a memory that she thought she would be able to lock away and never look at ever again, but much to Krystal's disgust, things like this was probably going to keep bringing that horrific sight back over and over again.

* * *

><p>Next morning, the horror fest calmed down a little.<p>

Everyone stood by Andrea as she watched her dead sister on the ground. She finally bled out, even Andrea was covered in a large amount of blood. Her sister ran out of blood to bleed from.

"Shouldn't we stop her?" Asked Carol, blood on her from when she had finished hacking away at her dead husband with an ax.

"No," Lori replied, "Let her grieve."

* * *

><p>An hour or so set in, the sun was blazing down onto the group's backs. Carl excused himself to go into the RV (he wanted to see if Krystal was okay). After he disappeared into the van, Shane approached to warn Andrea that her sister needed to be put down, but was met in the face with a clicked back, ready-to-be-fired-pistol.<p>

"I know how the safety works," Andrea grouched at him.

Holding his hands up in defeat, Shane backed up, returning to the group at the RV.

Amy came back, she still looked like the same beautiful and intelligent young girl from the nights before this happened. Andrea held onto her head as she snarled and growled, weakly trying to claw at Andrea's face.

Andrea's face was caked with blood, but she didn't care. All she cared about was the young girl laying in her arms.

"I'm so sorry, Amy," Andrea wanted to hug her despite the risk. She held her hand behind her sister's head instead. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I wasn't ever there for you, and the day I am there for you, this happens. It's all my fault! I'm really, really sorry, but I can't take it back! I can't go back through time! If I could, I'd do anything to prevent this from happening to you! I can't take it back."

Amy was about ready to take a chomp out of her sister's face. Removing her hands from around Amy's head, Andrea pulled back the trigger, brains from Amy splattered all over the ground.

"Amy," She breathed heavily after the shot, her face moist with tears and stained blood. "I love you."

* * *

><p>They finished gathering all the bodies.<p>

Daryl flipped his shit when he realized that Jim's been bit. It took Shane and Rick to keep Daryl and the group from trying to attack him.

"We don't kill the living!" Rick ordered.

"Tch," Daryl snorted, "That's funny, comin' from a guy with a gun pointing at my head. Fuckin' hypocrite. " He put up his cross bow.

"We need to burn the victims," Uttered Jaqui. "That way they won't be left looking like this."

"No!" Glenn emotionally yelled. "We don't burn our people! We bury them!"

The group were hesitant to go anywhere near the victims at first. It took some more encouragement from Glenn, Shane and Rick before they all finally agreed to bury the bodies.

"Need help?" Rick asked Andrea after planting a few bodies into the holes Jim made.

"I got it," Andrea sighed.

"You sure?" Shane piped in, this seemed to only anger her.

"I said I got it!" She barked, glaring at the two men in front of her.

They backed up, heading out to the road where their cars were waiting for them.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I know what you guys are thinking. This story is slow and boring!**

**Uh, duh. It's supposed to be at first, character relationship building takes a while in real life. I'm tired of all these OCs that already knows a member of the group, or are self inserted characters, or if they don't know a group they already make friends with just about everyone including the jerk Daryl Dixon.**

**Welp, I'm not gonna do that! It's gonna be a build up, zomg slow and boring character introduction from here on out. *salutes* **

**And as always, review! If you review, you get digital cookies and hugs! **


	4. CDC Investigation

The next stop after the camp was CDC.

The group left Jim behind. Krystal didn't know what to feel about anything after it happened. She road in the car with Rick and his family to avoid Andrea, unsure of how to deal with the situation with her sister.

They arrived at the building, it was huge, with pillars on both sides. The glass doors stood tall and proud despite the dead and fly covered carcasses all around. It looked like some of the workers and military tried to escape, but didn't make it pass the front gates.

A helicopter lay from the distance that the group was walking towards, off to the side of them. It had smoke blaring off from the sides, the choppers themselves smashed into pieces. A few walkers were wondering around the helicopter and the dead soldier's bodies. Krystal and the gang covered their noses, coughing along the way to the building. The heavy smell was terrible, it was so strong that it made her gag and clogged her nose. She wanted to puke!

Rick approached the door. "Hello? Anybody home?"

"Looks like we have company," Daryl pointed his crossbow at the group of walkers behind them, "we're gonna be their next meal if we don't get a move on!"

"We gotta go Rick," Lori begged, tugging at his elbows. "They'll be on top of us if we don't!"

The camera moved.

"It moved! Someone's inside!"

"Even if it did," Shane grunted, frustrated, "they won't let us in! See those walkers behind us?! We gotta go, now!"

Krystal readied her ax while the others lifted their own weapons, the snarling getting louder as the walkers grew closer.

"Let us in!" Rick hollered at the camera. "We have women and children!"

"Rick, that's enough!"

Shane grabbed Rick by the shoulders. He was about to drag him away, but the doors flew open. The doors began to rise up, a glowing light so strong that it reminded Krystal of heaven. The group charged for the doors just in time. As soon as the doors slammed shut, the walkers from before pounded on them, leaving bloodied hand-prints against the glass. Rick and the others stared, hoping that the doors would sustain the amount of walkers that were pounding against it.

"Who are you?" Asked an elderly man from behind.

Rick turned to him, "Rick Grimes."

The mystery man folded his arms, annoyed at the group of newcomers. "What do you want?"

"A chance,"

"A chance is a lot these days," The scientist lifted something out of his pocket. "Anybody infected?"

"One of us was," Replied Rick, swallowing thickly. "He didn't make it."

The man nodded, leading the way through the halls, the lights in the corridors instantly flicking themselves on.

He didn't wait nor ask for the others behind him to follow. The group followed him towards the four-way corridors, the laboratory in the middle and the office on the right hand side. He lifted a palm and pressed it a few numbers to make the doors slide open, allowing the group in behind him, the doors automatically slamming shut promptly behind them. One by one, the group of ten out of eleven (Rick, Lori, Carl, Shane, Jaqui, Dale, T-dog, Carol, Sophia, Glenn) got their shot.

Krystal was the only one who didn't get hers.

"Alright now," The scientist said, smiling softly at her. "It's your turn."

Krystal shook her head.

"You need to, it's important,"

Even with that, Krystal still shook her head.

"C'mon baby," Jaqui said, smoothing her hair down behind her head. "It'll be all over in just a second. The longer you stand there, the longer it's going to take."

"Why does that sound familiar," Carl looked at his mother, who also smoothed his hair down, her fingers playing with the messy strands of his hair.

"If you go, you'll get all the sweets in the world that you want, if the doctor has any." Jaqui said, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"…really?" Krystal asked quietly.

Andrea was amazed at how soft spoken she was, she barely heard her. It was obvious with the way that she was shaking, and desperately trying to hide herself behind them, that she was terrified of needles. Andrea also learned that she was able to make herself heard if she really wanted to be heard, but as soon as she got uncomfortable with what's around her, her voice went down to the level of "whispering-like-a-mouse". _  
><em>

Jaqui nodded. "Yes."

Krystal leaned her arm forward.

There was a pinch and a slight sting. She squeaked as the doctor cleaned it up with rubbing alcohol. She felt stupid and very embarrassed! She could take down walkers very easily, but was afraid of something a simple as needles?

She had the fear of needles and other tiny pointed objects for her whole life, but now with the apocalypse going on around her, it didn't make any sense to be afraid of needles, yet no matter how hard she tried to reason with herself, the feeling of a sting from a needle _still_ made her jump.

"There, all done." The scientist smiled warmly at her, patting her head, "See, wasn't so bad now was it?"

"What's your name?" Carl asked, the doors sliding open after Krystal ran off to join them. "You didn't tell us yours when you let us in."

"My name is Doctor Jenner," The man placed away his supplies.

"What's the point of taking our blood?" Andrea tried not to itch at the bandaged spot on her elbow. "If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."

"I'm already breaking every last rule in the book by letting you in here," Dr. Jenner rubbed his eyebrows. "at least let me be thorough."

Krystal saw that he was very tired, worn out from research. He must've been in his thirties or older, with sandy blonde hair and aqua blue eyes. He had worry lines in his forehead and cheek bones, as if he had been sitting around thinking too hard (he probably was).

"Welcome to the CDC." He said, voice echoing against the walls. "We have some electricity and a bit of water to spare, but if you use the showers, make sure not to over do the hot water, and don't use any of the electricity."

"Wait." Glenn interrupted, almost doing a double-take. He grinned, "You have hot water?"

"_And _electricity?" Carl asked.

Sophia was standing in between Carl and Krystal. They all gave each other knowing smirks, ducked underneath the arms of the adults around them. They snuck away while the adults did the rest of their conversations and introductions. It was time for some exploring and a little fun for once. What harm could that do? Besides, they were tired of constantly running for their lives and looking around them every fifth teen seconds to make sure a walker wasn't anywhere near them.

"Yes, but there's not a whole lot of it left," Dr. Jenner sighed, rubbing at his temples again.

He looked over to where the kids were previously standing only to find them both gone. The remaining adults had also left after he finished showing them their rooms, the bathrooms, kitchen and lounging room. He shook his head as he went into the lab. What Dr. Jenner didn't tell them was that it wouldn't be long until the place cleaned itself up and destroys its surroundings.

He felt that it wasn't necessary to mention anything, and that it would be better to keep such vital information to himself. And besides, it's rare to find happiness in this strange world. It wouldn't be a crime if he allowed them to enjoy themselves for the two days the remaining building had left.

"Where's the kids?" Lori nearly panicked.

"I'll go get them," Carol squeezed Lori's shoulder gently.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Krystal stretched, popping the sore muscles in her back. She got a good look around her room, her back pack and ax gathered underneath her bed. Her room was small, slightly cramped with space, but she couldn't complain either way. It's been a month sense she was in her own room. In the new world, she was starting to understand that good things like this didn't last very long in the world. She knew that all she could do was hope.<p>

Carl took the room on the right side of hers, Carol and Sophia were across from her while Rick and Lori were on the left side of her. The others (Andrea, Dale, T-Dog, Shane and Glenn) seemed to be very scattered with the rooms further down the hall.

While the adults busied themselves with conversation, Krystal and Carl did a lot of exploring in the place, finding a game room with old school arcades! They were so excited that they begged Dr. Jenner to let them play some arcades, but the doctor wouldn't let them, and gave them some board games to keep themselves occupied instead. They pouted and groaned about it, but they didn't press the issue any further.

On her way to the breakfast/dining room area, Krystal noticed Dr. Jenner whispering something into Rick's ears. She wasn't sure what they were whispering about, and she didn't want to know anyway. She went to change and brush her teeth, if she was the first one in the shower she wouldn't have to wait around for the others to finish up.

* * *

><p>Later on that evening, everyone met up at the dinner table.<p>

"We didn't honor our guest properly," Rick said, the last one to get to the dining table behind the others. The rest were already sitting at the table with their dinner (hamburger steak, salad and steak fries that T-dog prepared them). "I say we give a toast to Dr. Jenner!"

"Boo-yah!" Daryl whooped, opening his own champagne bottle. More wine bottles were popped open (and several other bottles that Krystal couldn't recognize) as a chorus of 'boo-yahs' went around the room, followed by everyone's fits of laughter.

"Woo!" Whooped Daryl again, spraying champagne over the heads of the adults beside him. Jaqui laughed so hard she nearly fell out of her chair, Shane rolled his eyes as he passed the bottles around to the others.

"I say we let the little ones here have a few," Dale winked.

Lori scoffed, "Are you nuts? It's illegal for a kid to drink!"

Dale chuckled. "In France, it's completely legal for kids to have wine!"

"Well then," Lori reached for the tongs in the salad bowl, "When Carl's in France, he can have some."

"What about you, little lady?" Dale asked Krystal, handing the bottle to her. "Want some?"

"I don't see why not," Krystal shrugged. "I don't have parents to tell me no," She reached over to take a sip. Everyone stared, waiting for her response.

"Well?" Squeaked Sophia. She would've reached for it, but her mother popped her hands with the nearest fork. "What? She's drinking it!"

"Doesn't mean it's okay," Carol said, poking her daughter teasingly with the fork.

Krystal shivered, nearly coughing it up. "Ew. Gross!"

Krystal gave the bottle back to Dale and asked for juice to take out the bad taste of wine in the back of her throat.

As everyone ate, laughing with stories of the way things used to be, Rick and Lori gave each other a glance, cutting at their steak with the silver ware.

* * *

><p>"Good morning," Krystal waved at them, taking her seat near Carl.<p>

"Morning," Said Carl and Sophia.

T-dog came in with some freshly grilled eggs. Carol slid some eggs onto the center of the table. Andrea and Dale hurried with their eggs while passing around the breakfast food.

"Powdered," T-dog said, stirring the product in the bowl. "not the best in the world, but it's full of protein!"

Glenn groaned, holding onto the side of his head as he sat beside T-Dog and Carol. On his plate were egg and plenty of bread rolls.

"Don't EVER, let me drink again." Glenn groaned, Jaqui patting him on the shoulder. The woman removed the eggs, leaving behind only the bread rolls. She whispered something to T-dog, probably saying that giving any other type of food to Glenn right now while he has a hang-over would be a bad-idea.

"Mom said you guys were going to have a hang-over," Carl asked as his father sat down beside them.

"And she's absolutely right," Rick smiled, reaching over for a glass of water.

"The hell happened to you, brother?" T-dog demanded as Shane came in the room last, tilting his head after noticing Shane's scratch marks against his neck. Shane cursed under his breath, thankfully, no one noticed that. "Ya'll look like a cat gotta hold'a ya."

Krystal looked up at them, pushing eggs around on her plate. T-dog's personality was always an over-exaggeration of everything. Usually, she wouldn't give those kind of people any type of attention what so ever, sense hyper-active people tend to bother her, but she didn't mind with T-dog.

T-dog was helpful, offering a hand with everything including the preparation of food and going on supply runs. He gave advice where it was needed, and was in general a very nice guy all around. Krystal learned from T-dog that looks could be deceiving. Just because you dressed like a gangster, talked like one and acted like one didn't make you a person that should be stayed away from. The more she hung around him, the more she found out about him. Just yesterday, she discovered that T-dog's real name was Theodore.

She didn't know what to feel about Shane. He kept giving her mixed signals, coming off as creepy to her. Sometimes he felt like a good guy, then there was days like today where he gave off a vibe that was nothing but creepy. She asked Carl about it earlier that morning when they were getting dressed, but Carl said nothing but praises about him, saw him as his hero.

Krystal didn't know what to think of the guy, but the marks on his neck made her very suspicious of him. She noticed Glenn groaning with his head down, feeling somewhat sorry for him.

"I must've did it in my sleep," Shane muttered, sitting down. T-dog put the rest of the eggs on his plate.

"Not like you, man," Rick swallowed a mouthful of food, along with a sip of wine.

"No," Shane started picking up pieces of egg with his fork. "It's not like me at all."

"I hate to ask a question so early in the morning," Dale began.

"But you're gonna ask anyway," Dr. Jenner responded.

"What're you guys doing here?" Dale wiped wine off of his beard. "Weren't they more of you?"

"Some," Dr. Jenner answered. "Not anybody left, though."

"In any case, I don't think we came all the way up here for the eggs," Andrea looked up at the scientist expectantly. Everyone fell into an awkward silence.

After breakfast, Dr. Jenner stood up, asking everyone to follow him to the lab room.


End file.
